2006 Canadian Clydesdale E250 4x4

Long time lurker, appreciate the information shared here.

Just so happens that I have procured a 2006 Clydesdale E250 4x4. My buddy overheard a fellow on a jobsite mentioning he had a van that he was trying to sell... And the magic words "4x4" were also eavesdropped...

253K (KM), 5.4, reverse had just went out on the PO, not too rusty but was worked hard, under hood and fluids looked good, and had good studded winter tires.
Fully optioned (PL, PM, ACT, rear AC) as it was a local utility emergency van before.

Price was right (I hope), so I wrote the cheque, and after the PO emptied his gear, drove it home, carefully planning so as not to back up. :sombrero:
Drove well for the miles on it, some rattles, the front end might have some wear/wander to deal with as well.

A more thorough look underneath at home, F-250 donor TTB conversion, about 2" over stock height, a BW1356 t-case, not sure on gearing yet.
Some nice finds like the dual batteries, rear air bags, passenger seat swivel base. Whole underside is covered in the expanding foam as well, bit of a mixed blessing, makes it hard to get at lines, hoses, bolts, but it has saved the components it covered from corrosion.

The plan is to make it my winter moto-hauler van.

So far:
Gut interior, evict my furry friends, wash. About 700lbs to the dump.
Salvaged better seats and some trim from a wrecked E250.
Pull driveline to get transmission out, rear main seal required, and maybe an oilpan gasket too
Transmission shop confirmed broken reverse band, 4R70W, but no shrapnel, its getting a full rebuild with the sonnax fixes, new stock stall t/c, and a mild boost in line pressure and a RV shift kit, so get the cooler and lines cleaned, and that that back in. Might go through the t-case too. New u-joints, etc,
Bought some decent summer rubber from Kevman here.

Near term:
Pull the 100 yards of aftermarket stereo, alarm, aux lights and emergency flasher wiring and get back to the oem harness.
Weld the 14 holes in the roof and the 100's in the floor shut and strip, monstaliner the roof maybe? Or see what a real liner costs for both.
Go through the front end to address the wander (as much as you can on a TTB :smiley_drive:) and u-joints/bearings/seals.
Basic go through of all remaining mechanical and start to drive it locally to get a baseline/confidence.

Here are some pictures - I haven't been super vigilant at taking them along the way.
LMK if you have a specific request.

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05e3504x4

New member
Nice man though it looks like you have your work cut out for you. :) That's 3/4 of the fun though right!?

Mind me asking what you paid for it?

I have Clydesdale 1083. Seems ours were converted not to far apart.

Ill be watching this thread for sure. keep the pics coming !

oh and be sure to inspect your TTB carefully. Even though mine only had 130k km's,

upon inspection I found some pretty major cracks in the steel that needed to be sewn up
and that's after I drove it for 550km's :eek:
 
Thanks for the heads up on the welding, I will have a closer look.
Not sure who did the exhaust, but the frame welds looked good at a glance, and Clydesdale has been very helpful narrowing down part #'s / applications.
I paid $1500 CDN pesos, not sure if I scored or not, LOL, there will be a lot of sweat equity and the new transmission is tripling the investment $.
How about some pictures of its older sibling, #1083? :)
 
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Myvanisbetter

Observer
Solid axle Clydesdale checking in. Love it!

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Unfortunately it is getting head studs right now.
 
New rear main seal in, looks like it might be the oil pan gasket that's the real leaker... Not even sure how one might go about getting that done in the frame? there is NO room... Yikes. Cleaned the pan up and will monitor. My scheduled assistance with the transmission Saturday was too hung over, so the install was postponed to the following day... So, cleaned the transmission coolers and lines, blew about 6 lbs of dirt and grass and feathers out of the radiator, did and oil and filter change and some other maintenance.

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Sunday funday... The new transmission went in, neighbor took a look and thought the tcase was still really tight, so threw it back in, for now, and the rear driveshaft needs u-joints but I just had to see if it drove... Front driveshaft is pooched, slip joint gone, so getting it re-done and balanced.

After a long day... And some anxious moments at start up... Sure took a lot of ATF... SUCCESS :smiley_drive:

"Now featuring reverse"!

https://youtu.be/M-idinmNw3U
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The transmission works great now, quick shifts, but not harsh. 3.73 gears judging from RPM. 5.4 goes alright.

Test drive at highway speeds. Drives decent, bit of wander, but not bad. However, there is some weird front end scrub on tight turns. Will go through the hubs, ball joints, tie rods, brakes and do the TTB U-joints next, and maybe see if a alignment shop can suss it out if I can't see anything obvious.

Nero the dog approves.

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Rebuilt and re-balanced driveshafts, Spicer Life u-joints, rear installed. Left the front off since I'm pulling it apart next couple days.

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Seems to have addressed most of the highway speed vibration issues.

As well, a buddy who is a bodyman adjusted the doors and latches, and I pulled the remaining running board, solving 90% of the squeaks and clunks. :wings:
 
Not sure if this one was listed on Kijiji...

Some more progress on the mechanicals...

TTB front axle apart for inspection and go through.

Ball joints unloaded, seemed ok, although the boots leak.
Brake pads, rotors good, caliper slides even had anti seize on em.
Van ABS ring and sensor had been adapted to 4x4 hub.
Fresher grease inside the hub and bearings, lockouts good.
So far all Ford TTB 1/2 ton parts have worked.

New differential oil seals, drilled and tapped a drain plug, Spicer life u-joints, and new wheel grease seals, repack.
One rough bearing, changed it and the race out - this was a bit of an issue as standard Ford 3/4 bearings didn't fit but got the right bearing and race from different sets from the parts store.

Next up the steering slop - tie rod ends all newer and seemed ok if a bit leaky, noticed the steering box sector shaft deflecting so out it came, bit of a bear, off for a rebuild, hope that resolves it. Visually the TTB bushings look good, tire wear seemed good, so might not pull that apart?

KYB shocks ordered too, looks like oem on it and leaky. Belts, hoses seem ok, might give the coolant brake fluid and rear end a quick change.

So hoping by end of the week a test drive and its back to driving good, then can start on the roof welding and some interior/electrical.

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Some more progress, rebuilt steering box back in, seems to have resolved both the wander, and the weird scrub on hard turns. :smiley_drive:

So, eagerly, I tried 4wd, and "whang whang whang" the driveshaft hits the driver side collector, it did look tight on re-install... the PO told me "4WD works great" - not sure if they were deaf, but that had to be addressed... So mark it, remove it all (again) and heat and beat, and repeat... Now has about 1/2" clearance all around...

Shocks arrived, so thought I'd throw them on quick before the 4wd re-test drive... Well, that's a beast as well, what was on there looked OEM, and were rusted solid. Turns out the econoline spec fronts are too long by about 3"... Hmm, back to the parts store have them pull a set of F150 fronts out, and yup, they will work. So waiting on the front shocks again...

While idle up on the jackstands, decided to tackle some more wiring liability removal... Yes that's a tap to the main harness with two more taps in series... and a hot wire off the alternator, running to the rear bay of the van, just wrapped with duct tape... among many other dubious things... Liquid electrical tape to try to heal the wounds... Getting close to back to the stock harness, a couple more bits of jankiness to sort out. Will rewire it better as required by the moto/camper build out...

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Not many pics, but a few updates.

Front shocks changed out to KYB for F150, turns out the Econoline ones would've fit, but somewhow I got the PN's mixed up on the boxes and returned them. The F150's work fine anyhow. Rear shocks were just as much of a PITA so I sawzalled em out, KYB there now too.

Put the 08 seats (note: 08 seatbuckles will not work with 06 seatbelts but the harness plugs are the same), kick panels, front floor cover, sills, new shifter boot, etc, back in...

I have spent some time driving it around town, about 250KM now... Its actually pretty decent now for ride, power and handling. Neighbor took it for a rip and commented "gee, its not bad at all". The steering box and shocks have transformed it. All systems work, front rear heat, AC, cruise, windows, locks, mirrors, lights... Mileage test also in progress... guess is 12mpg around town...

Don't know if I will weld the roof shut before winter falls, I might just seal all the holes and then deal with it in spring, rather spend the time before snow flies on remaining mechanical, getting the interior set up with tunes, sound deadening, floor and wall covering, and moto-van set up (chocks, lights, etc).
 
Some more progress before the days get a lot chillier here...

LED headlight install, TruckLite knockoffs via Amazon... They work really well and are quite an upgrade over the halogens. Good cutoff on low, wide pattern lights up corners better. "Vosicky" brand.

Trial fitment of wheel chocks/tie downs. Skunked by the lack of access to the floorpan to through bolt them down - the fuel tank, the exhaust and heatshield, and the freaking sprayfoam prevented even getting a finger up in there. Dropping them is very unpalatable, so I ordered a rivnut tool and rivnuts to try from the top. Fingers crossed it will arrive tomorrow.

Rear diff serviced, an open diff, so no old trac lok to crater. 3.73's. Brake bleed. Both were due! New oil has quieted down the rear end a bit even?

Coolant checked out OK, saving a 7.5 gallon mix and swap out, but might still drop the rad to clean it and the AC condenser better.

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